Rohe Says Citrus Bowl Working On Package

November 9, 1986|By Brian Schmitz of The Sentinel Staff

PITTSBURGH — Florida Citrus Bowl executive director Chuck Rohe said Saturday he expects to have details worked out this week on a sponsorship package that will make the Citrus Bowl ''the leading candidate'' to land a national wire- service championship game between Miami and Penn State Jan. 1.

Although the Citrus Bowl's sponsors and ABC could not agree on a revised commercial fee schedule during discussions Friday, Rohe said the Orlando bowl will have a ''package competitive with the Orange, Sugar and Cotton bowls.''

Rohe would not elaborate on the details of the package, but the Orange, Sugar and Cotton bowls offer payoffs totaling between $4.1 to $4.5 million. Increased commercial fees for the ABC-televised game between Miami and Penn State would raise the normal Citrus Bowl payoffs from $900,000 to $2.3 million per team.

The Citrus Bowl's main sponsor is the Florida Citrus Growers Association.

The Citrus Bowl's main competition is the Fiesta Bowl in Tempe, Ariz. Its representatives also were in Pittsburgh, shaking hands with Hurricanes officials.

Bowl bids cannot be extended until Nov. 22.

Said Don Meyer, chairman of the Fiesta Bowl's selection committee: ''We can pay out as much as any bowl except the Rose.'' Rose Bowl payoffs are approximately $5.5 million per team.

Meyer said that Penn State Coach Joe Paterno told him that the Nittany Lions ''don't want to play in Florida because Miami would have an unfair advantage because of their fans.''

Rohe said each school could be allotted 9,000 tickets, maybe ''10-12,000.'' Miami Athletic Director Sam Jankovich was non-committal. ''Money is not the question. We're not going to get into a bidding war. We're not getting into this $2.3, $2.4 million stuff,'' he said.

He defended the Citrus and the Fiesta, who have been attacked by other bowl scouts for bidding on the game. ''Other bowls would like a national championship game, but they're locked into things because of conference ties,'' he said.

Jankovich said making a choice of a bowl trip would ''be a collective thing.'' The team, coach Jimmy Johnson and the players would have input.

''We are to a certain degree under pressure to stay within the state, but we also have a responsibilty to college football, too. We want a bowl that can make this a showcase event, that can handle the media and do it right.''

Jankovich ruled out a rematch in the Orange Bowl between the Hurricanes and Oklahoma. Miami beat the Sooners, 28-16, this year.

Rohe said that if a Miami-Penn State matchup materializes for the Citrus Bowl, bowl seating would be increased from 52,000 to 54,000 by adding bleachers in the north end zone.

Rohe said to accommodate the tremendous amount of media covering the event ''patrons would be asked to swap seats.'' He said the top six rows of the west side of Orlando Stadium would be converted to a temporary press box.